Railroad-tie.



N. T. OPDAHL.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 11, 1913.

1 099 2 1 Patented June 9, 1914.

upper edge ofthe upstanding flange 2 is in connection with the tie; and Fi A top member 7 is provided which extends UNITED STATES OFFICE.

NELS T. OPDAHL, OF NEW DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

'RAILRQAb-TIE.

Application filed March 17,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Nuns T. OPDAHL, a

citizen of the United States, residing at New Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Railroad- Ties; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

. This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway ties, and has for its object to provide a. metallic tie which will combine the advantages of the old type of wooden tie with the indestructible properties of the metallic tie. 1

Another object of my invention is to provide a device which will be easily and quickly set in place and to which rails may be attached by the usual method of spiking and without the necessity of using a special clip to secure the same, such as are usually used on ties of the metallic type.

Another object of my invention is to provide a metallic tie which will be cheap to construct and simple to use.

With the above and other objects in view, I will now proceed to describe my invention in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of my in1- proved tie, showing the fragments of the rails in place. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. F 11g. 3 is a. detailperspective view of a fragment of the tie. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the plate which is used 5 is a detail perspective view of the bloc which is used in connection with the tie.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, 1 indicates the base of the tie having at .each side the upstanding flanges 2. These flangesare provided intermediate their length with openings 3 which are adapted to lighten the construction and decrease the quantity of material used. The

beveled at each end as indicated at 4, and. is provided with similar upstanding projections 5 which are beveled as shown at 6.

across the upstanding portions 5 and is adapted to connect the same. This top' member is recessed as shown at 8 for the reception of the usual spike 9 which is Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 9, 1914.

1913. Serial No. 754,902.

adapted to be driven through the recess and into the block of wood or similar material to hold the rail in place. The adjacent edges of the top members 7 are spaced apart a short distance and form a recess 10 which is adapted to receive the flange of a rail. The plate 11 having upstanding ribs 12 is provided and is adapted to seat in the recess 10. This plate is provided in its lateral edges with recesses as indicated at 13 which are adapted to receive the shanks of the spikes which hold the rail in place. These recesses 13 are adapted to register with the recesses 8 in the body portion of the tie, so as to form a clear space through which the shank of the spike may be driven to hold the plate from longitudinal movement.

A block of wood or similar material 14 is preferably insertedbetween the upstanding flanges 2 of the tie and between the bottom 1 and the top members 7. This block 14 extends for substantially the same distance as the upstanding portions of the sides 9 and is adapted to receive the ends of the spikes 9 and hold the rails in a substantially immovable position. Tf it occurs that a rail joint comes over one of the ties the plate 11 is elii'ninated and the angle bars. shown in Fig; 52 and indicated by the numeral 15. are substituted which rest directly on the block of wood and hold the rail firmly in place without the use of the aforesaid plate 11. These angle bars 15 are fixed to the rail in the usual manner and are provided with re cesses which are adapted to register with the recesses 8 through which the spikes 9 are adapted to pass.

The bottom 1 of the tie is preferably provided with downwardly extending lugs 16 which are V-shaped and are adapted to seat into the road-bed and prevent the tie from becoming dislodged. These lugs U are preferably located directly beneath the center of the rail so that the passing of trains on the rail will cause the lugs to be pressed downwardly into the road-bedding material and more firmly hold the tie in place.

It 'will be seen from the foregoing that. the construction and operation of my invention are considerably simplified, when compared with the metallic ties in use at the present time, and the life of the tie is considerably increased by the use of metal.

While in the foregoing I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my. invention, it is to be understood that I may change the structure and arrangement of cut-away portion being provided with re parts without in any way departing from the 1 cesses' communicating with the opening spirit of the claim. formed by the cut-away portion, and plates \Vhat I claim is having depressions extending therethrough 5 In a metallic railroad tie, a base, flanges 1 adapted to be inserted between the top memextending upwardly therefrom, said flanges i bers, said plates being provided with recesses extending throughout the entire length of the in their lateral extremities adapted to regbase, top members formed integral with said ister with the recesses in the top members flanges, and extending transverselythereof, to receive a spike and eliminate longitudinal 10 adjacent the ends of the tie, said top'memmovement of the tie plate with relation to bers being. spaced from the ends 'of the tie the rail when the device is in use. for a short distance, wedge shaped plugs In testimony whereof I affix my signature adapted to be driven into the tie between l in presence of two witnesses. the flanges, the base member and the top NELS T. OPDAHL. ,5 members, said top members being cut away Witnesses:

intermediate their lateral "extremities to re- Louis B, TAYLOR, ceive the flange of a rail, the wallsof said i ISABE'LL OPDAHL. 

